Ukraine-Russia war latest: Kyiv launches massive drone and missile attack on Russian airbase and key targets

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that he has held further discussions with French President Emmanuel Macron about the possibility of Western troops deploying in Ukraine.

Zelensky’s disclosure came before an official visit to Kyiv on Tuesday by German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius. He arrived in Kyiv on an unannounced visit following a meeting in Warsaw on Monday with his counterparts from France, the United Kingdom, Italy and Poland.

Germany and the four other countries are Europe’s five top military spenders.

Macron prompted an outcry from other leaders, and he appeared isolated on the European stage, after his remarks almost a year ago floated the possibility of putting Western troops in Ukraine.

Zelensky has said that Ukraine needs security guarantees to bolster any peace agreement — an issue he said late Monday that he discussed with the French leader.

“As one of these guarantees, we discussed the French initiative to deploy military contingents in Ukraine,” Zelensky said. “We considered practical steps for its implementation, possible expansion and involvement of other countries in this process.”

Russia is ready to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine as part of negotiations aimed at clinching a wider settlement to end the fighting, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

The Kremlin said on Monday that the issue of security guarantees for both Russia and Ukraine would be an integral part of any possible settlement between the warring sides.

“We are ready to discuss security guarantees for the country that is now called Ukraine,” Lavrov told a news conference.

Russia is prepared to study US President-elect Donald Trump’s peace initiatives on Ukraine when he takes office next week, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said.

Lavrov cautioned that Trump’s comments on the war – which he previously said he could end within 24 hours of entering the White House – were being made before his inauguration, but said Russia welcomed the fact that Trump’s team was starting to speak of “the reality on the ground” when discussing Ukraine.

Lavrov said this was reflected in comments from both Trump and incoming national security adviser Mike Waltz.

Waltz told ABC on Sunday that it was clear the war must end somehow by diplomatic means.

He added: “I just don’t think it’s realistic to say we’re going to expel every Russian from every inch of Ukrainian soil, even Crimea. President Trump has acknowledged that reality, and I think it’s been a huge step forward that the entire world is acknowledging that reality. Now let’s move forward.”

Ukraine has launched a “massive attack” that hit multiple targets in Russia’s Engels, Saratov, Kazan, Bryansk, and Tula, a senior Ukrainian official said.

Andriy Kovalenko, the head of Ukraine‘s official Centre Against Disinformation, told Ukrainian TV that the strikes had targeted weapon production plants, oil refineries and warehouses.

Russia’s leading tanker group, Sovcomflot, said that new US sanctions would create additional operational difficulties and accused the West of undermining the global system of merchant shipping.

“The company’s vessels do not belong to the ‘shadow fleet'”, Sovcomflot said.

“The sanctions against Sovcomflot are not motivated by violations on the part of the company and have no legal basis, they are motivated solely by the political interests of individual countries, including the United States.”

Sovcomflot is the largest shipping company in Russia, and a major tanker operator.

“The introduction of new sanctions against Sovcomflot vessels creates additional operational difficulties,” it said.

“Sovcomflot continues to work systematically to minimise the negative impact of the sanctions on its operations. At the same time, the company will continue to adhere to high standards of safety and quality of maritime operations and comply with all applicable laws and requirements,” it said.

US President Joe Biden’s administration imposed its broadest package of sanctions so far targeting Russia’s oil and gas revenues on Friday.

The US Treasury identified 69 Sovcomflot vessels – including 54 oil and product tankers and four liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers – that are blocked.

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius has arrived in Kyiv for talks with the Ukrainian government to discuss further aid and assess the military situation.

“It is important for me to show with this trip that we continue to actively support Ukraine,” Pistorius, a member of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats, told news agency DPA.

The German defence ministry confirmed the visit.

Germany is among Ukraine’s top military backers in its war against Russia.

There is debate over Berlin’s support for Ukraine ahead of Germany’s snap election on 23 February, particularly as the incoming US presidency of Donald Trump puts pressure on Europe to boost its own defences.

Pistorius’s trip to Kyiv comes a day after he visited Warsaw, where he met his counterparts from Germany, Poland, Britain, France and Italy.

“It is a signal that Germany, as the largest NATO country in Europe, stands by Ukraine. Not alone, but with the Group of Five and many other allies,” he was quoted as saying upon arriving in Kyiv.

Ukraine struck Russian regions with a major drone and missile attack overnight, damaging factories in at least three cities, officials and media said.

The Shot Telegram channel said that Russia had downed more than 200 Ukrainian drones and five U.S.-made ATACMS ballistic missiles.

“The enemy has organized a massive combined strike on the territory of the Russian regions,” the Two Majors war blogger said.

Roman Busargin, governor of the Saratov region about 450 miles southeast of Moscow, said the cities of Saratov and Engels, on opposite banks of the Volga River, had been subjected to a mass drone attack and there was damage to two industrial sites. Schools had shifted to remote learning, he said.

Ukraine attacked the same region last week and claimed to have struck an oil depot serving an airbase for Russian nuclear bomber planes, causing a huge fire that took five days to put out.

The independent Astra news outlet reported a fire at an industrial site in the city of Kazan, east of Moscow, as a result of a drone attack.

Alexander Bogomaz, the governor of the Bryansk region in western Russia, said Ukraine had launched a major missile attack but did not say which missiles had been used.

Flight restrictions were imposed at airports in Kazan, Saratov, Penza, Ulyanovsk and Nizhnekamsk, Russia’s aviation watchdog said.

Nizhnekamsk, in Russia’s republic of Tatarstan, is home to the major Taneco refinery. Shot said attack sirens were sounded at the refinery.